Captive Goodyear bosses freed at French site

AMIENS, France (AP) — Two Goodyear managers held captive for two days by angry French workers have been freed after police intervened.

The director and human resources chief at the plant in Amiens in northern France walked out of the factory Tuesday afternoon. Minutes earlier, two police officers had entered the facility while a dozen others waited outside.

The plant in Amiens, which Goodyear has tried to sell or shutter for five years, has become an emblem of France's labor tensions. The seizure Monday morning of the two managers appeared to resurrect the once-common practice of "boss-napping."

The Goodyear plant's workers, having failed to get guarantees to keep the factory open, are demanding larger severance payments.